CNBC: Russian airliner crashes near Moscow, killing all 71 people on board https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/11/pas...near-moscow-russian-news-agencies-report.html
Aeroflot was great the times I flew it, but those were all on the A320.I have a good friend from Russia. When we were living in Berlin he was going home for Christmas, and I asked if he was going Aeroflot. He said, "No, I want to get there alive."
http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2018/02/saratow-antonov-148-100-ra-61704-flight.html
Lack of pitot heat may of gave them erroneous speed indications, leading to the crash.
I don't know how common it is on real jets, but An-148 has an on-off switch for the 3 pitot heat circuits, and the heaters are limited to 2 minutes while on the ground per POH ("RLE"). I guess the heating elements will burn out without airflow over the pitot probes. The across-the-town rivals from Sukhoi were quick to point out that on SSJ-100 it is safe to turn the pitot heat on while on the ground.
Practically all of our probes on the CRJ are heated all the time as long as there is power (APU or external) available. On the ground they are heated at half power and once we have a weight off wheels signal, they’ll heat to full power. Not sure why they’d put a limitation on probes. They’re pretty important.I don't know how common it is on real jets, but An-148 has an on-off switch for the 3 pitot heat circuits, and the heaters are limited to 2 minutes while on the ground per POH ("RLE"). I guess the heating elements will burn out without airflow over the pitot probes. The across-the-town rivals from Sukhoi were quick to point out that on SSJ-100 it is safe to turn the pitot heat on while on the ground.
Those pics remind me of the old 'one day these people aren't going to scream to tell us when to rotate, and we're going to run right off the end' joke.I still think of the Boeing 777 as a "new" type (I recall seeing the first one flying over Seattle on a test flight in 1995), so it seems odd to see them being scrapped now. I watched one being ripped apart a few weeks ago at a refurb/scrapping yard adjacent to my home field, and there are some others there awaiting the same fate. They're all in the liveries of "independent" Russian airlines, Orenair and Nordwind. They must have had a tough life.
One thing -- the Russian carriers don't believe in wasting runway on takeoff.
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I think the worst part about the Asiana is not that one of their captains got onto the back of the power curve and didn't know what it was. It was bad, but hey. At least he didn't overrun the runway, like the SWA guys are apt to do. No, the worst part was that in 2 years another Asiana captain has done exactly the same thing at Hirosima. Nobody died that time, but there were some serious injuries. That tells me that the management of Asiana did not extract any lessons from hiring pilots who have no clue about lift/drug/thrust/weight. The whole airline needs a serious shake-up.Instead I rode S7 to Incheon and then Asiana (against my wishes to avoid them after that 777 in SFO) direct to SEA.
The Germans call Aeroflot Aeroschrott, Schrott being the German word for junk.I remember having a standards committee meeting in St. Petersburg in 2000. Rode in and out on LH. After landing, while taxiing to the international terminal, I was looking out the window at a bunch of old Russian airliners. Looked like a boneyard to me, until I realized that they were still flying those things. No way! Now, I did ride S7 airlines in and out of Vladivostok last year, but they were short flights on western airliners. Aeroflot was the cheapest option for going home, but it was Vladivostok to Moscow to LAX on Aeroflot and then LAX to SEA on Alaska. Instead I rode S7 to Incheon and then Asiana (against my wishes to avoid them after that 777 in SFO) direct to SEA. Faster, but $700 more expensive.